Table of Contents

Manage employee dimensions

With employee dimensions, you distribute payroll costs across dimension values such as cost centers. Maintain dated dimension and cost center distributions on the employee, reconcile the dimension values with controlling and finance, and check the posted employee dimensions after the run. SwissSalary takes over the lines valid for the payroll period into the payroll run — relevant for new hires, cost center changes, and before payroll runs with distributed account assignment.

Prerequisites

  • Dimensions and dimension values are set up in Business Central under Dimensions > Dimension Values.
  • The dimension values in use aren't blocked.
  • The financial- and cost-accounting account assignment is set up.

Enter dimensions

  1. Open the employee and choose Employee Dimensions.
  2. In the Dimension field, choose the dimension code.
  3. Enter the following for each distribution line:
    • Dimension Value
    • Part
    • Valid From
    • Valid To
    • Description
  4. At the bottom of the page, check the Total field.

The Part field can only be entered once a Dimension Value is present. Valid To may not be earlier than Valid From.

Wichtig

The Total field sums up the lines of the selected dimension that are valid on the work date. Therefore, also check whether the validity dates cover the intended payroll period.

Distribute cost centers

For a percentage distribution, enter several lines of the same dimension. Example:

Dimension Value Part
KST-VERKAUF 60
KST-SERVICE 40
Total 100

Use a consistent basis for the shares in your company. Before the payroll run, check that the lines valid for the period together produce the intended distribution.

Manage validity changes

When the distribution changes:

  1. Limit the previous lines with Valid To.
  2. Create new lines with the following Valid From.
  3. Avoid unintended gaps or overlaps.
  4. Check the Total with a work date within the new validity period.

SwissSalary takes over all lines whose validity overlaps the payroll period. When there are changes within a month, you must therefore check especially carefully whether the expected result is produced.

Warnung

Don't delete historical distributions when they are needed for traceability. Limit their validity and enter a new distribution.

Use templates

In employee templates, you can store Employee Dimension Templates:

  1. Choose the dimension code.
  2. Enter Dimension Value, Part, validity dates, and description.
  3. Check the Total.
  4. Use the template when creating new employees.

The template page shows the first global dimension by default. Switch to the intended dimension if needed.

Consider journal dimensions

Journal lines can contain their own cost center or cost object. Therefore, when there are discrepancies, check:

  • whether the dimension is already specified on the journal line;
  • whether the employee distribution is valid for the period;
  • whether the posting matrix or dimension matrix specifies a dimension value;
  • whether an amount without a dimension value is distributed across existing posted employee dimensions.

When no distributed total value is available, SwissSalary can output an account assignment error message for the employee.

Accounting key posting

When you enter transaction data in the Management Rapport Journal or through Allocated Salary directly on a cost center, an accounting key is created. On the Salary Type Card, on the Dimensions tab, you define for each salary type how SwissSalary takes accounting keys and employee dimensions into account when distributing costs.

Define cost distribution per salary type

  1. Open the Salary Types list and the relevant Salary Type Card.

  2. On the Dimensions tab, in the Accounting Key Posting field, choose the distribution logic:

    Option Effect
    Standard (All) Default value. SwissSalary distributes the costs proportionally across the employee dimensions and the accounting keys.
    Employee Dimensions SwissSalary distributes the costs exclusively across the employee dimensions stored for the employee. Accounting keys aren't taken into account.
    Accounting Key SwissSalary distributes the costs exclusively across the accounting keys. The employee dimensions aren't taken into account.

  3. In the Accounting Key CC field, define whether the Quantity or the Amount of the entered lines determines the distribution.

Example: CHF 800 is distributed for a salary type. Cost center A with 1 part and cost center B with 2 parts are stored as employee dimensions for the employee. In addition, 5 parts are entered on cost center C through an accounting key.

Cost center Parts Standard (All) Employee Dimensions Accounting Key
A (employee dimension) 1 CHF 100.00 CHF 266.67 CHF 0.00
B (employee dimension) 2 CHF 200.00 CHF 533.33 CHF 0.00
C (accounting key) 5 CHF 500.00 CHF 0.00 CHF 800.00
Hinweis

With the Employee Dimensions option, the accounting key still appears in the posted employee dimensions. However, it isn't taken into account when distributing the costs of this salary type.

Make the cost object mandatory

On the salary type card, in the Cost Object Posting field, choose Code Mandatory if a cost object must be specified when entering data in the Management Rapport Journal and in Allocated Salary.

Calculate the hourly rate with the Cost Center Partition field

With the Cost Center Partition field, you mark the working-hour and absence-hour salary types that form the cost center partition. SwissSalary divides the total of the salary types with CC Allocation enabled by the hours of the salary types with an assignment in Cost Center Partition. This results in a newly calculated hourly rate for cost accounting every month. The working and absence hours are therefore not posted with the pay rate from the employee card but with this hourly rate.

Option Effect
(blank) No assignment.
positive The hours are included positively in the calculation.
Sign change The hours are included negatively in the calculation, for example when overtime is included.

Check posted dimensions

After the payroll run:

  1. Open the payroll run or a salary entry.
  2. Choose Dimensions.
  3. In Posted Employee Dimensions, check:
    • Employee No.
    • Payroll No.
    • Dimension
    • Dimension Value
    • Posting Type
    • Part
    • Description
  4. Compare the stored values with the setup valid for the settlement period.

The posted employee dimensions are the proof of which distribution SwissSalary used in the specific payroll run.

You can also check the posted dimensions on the posted payroll run under Reports with the General Ledger Log report and the selection Layout = Dimension.

EasyRapport uses dimensions in a neighboring reporting process: there, rapport types, dimensions, and group lines are provided, cost centers are approved, and dimension reports are created. The payroll-relevant employee distribution and its verification remain in SwissSalary.

Good to know

  • If you only read Total at the work date, you overlook out-of-period lines — cost centers in the payroll run diverge from the monthly picture.
  • If you delete historical distributions instead of using Valid To, you lose traceability and risk overlaps in posted periods.
  • If you change validities mid-month without checking, the run takes over all overlapping lines and splits personnel costs incorrectly.
  • If you set journal dimension, posting matrix, and employee distribution in parallel without a clear source, the same salary is posted multiple times or not at all.
  • If you use blocked dimension values or inconsistent bases for shares, the posting fails or cost accounting becomes incomparable.

See also